Thread: I. Barber stub tail restoration

I found this blade at a flea market in the spring of 2016 and almost 2 years later now I finally got around to working on it. It's an Isaac Barber stub tail that was in pretty rough shape with significant corrosion and pitting. It originally had an etching that was very light and half rusted away, I couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. I tried seeing if it was worth saving but... a moment of silence for the etching please.

I made some new scales out of honey horn patterned after an old scale I had off of an Instanter stub tail that I restored a while back. The blades are almost identical shape so this worked well.

Here's the blade as I was almost done hand sanding. Look closely at the back side blade face and tang and you will see an anomaly in the steel running the length of the blade. I don't know much about the forging process but I imagine something happened there and this was the result.

Something else about this blade that was a bit of a challenge, and then wasn't after all, was the shape of the tang. This is one of those that's only tapered on one side (the tang stamp side) and the other side is even with the blade. Like this from a top view..

I messed around doing multiple test fits and mock-up's and couldn't get the blade to center due to the taper on only one side of the tang. I tried adding an extra washer on one side and it didn't really help plus I'm not a fan of that anyway so I scrapped that idea. I finally decided that I just didn't care that much if it centers while closing and I would just go ahead and pin it. Lo and behold once it was properly pinned it centers! You know, I sometimes think I have these things figured out and then something like this. Well, it all worked out but I can't really say how except luck maybe.
I'll get the finished pictures up next...

OK, honey horn with stainless steel dome collars (from Austin), brass pins, lead wedge and a satin finish on the blade faces. Newly honed and ready to go, can't wait!

I knew you were up to sumthin, you've been too quiet as of late. Stand um up... Knock um down, Tuzi.

Excellent work my friend.

Nice work buddy. It also makes me feel better about how long some of my projects hang on the to do board.

Superb work my friend! Enjoy!

Originally Posted by RezDog

Nice work buddy. It also makes me feel better about how long some of my projects hang on the to do board.

Yeah, I remained undecided on the issue of what to do about the etch for a long time, just put it in a drawer. I realized that it wasn't doing anyone any good the way it was so I made up my mind to just get it done. After just a few minutes into working on it I found there was no saving that etch, could have made up my mind a lot quicker had I just started on it way back when I got it

Originally Posted by Martin103

Superb work my friend! Enjoy!

Thanks, Martin! I finally get to shave with a "spurious and inferior imitation"... well, according to John Barber anyway I must say that it does not seem inferior in any way so far, shave test will reveal all I suppose. As for spurious, I dunno

Great Job, Tuzi! It could not have looked better when it was brand-new.

Superbly done Tuzi!

Pete <:-}

Super just super. Enjoy.

Bob